MibJab

Just wait. Smith is gonna be a top notch player come a few years. He's very mobile, strong on his feet, has a wicked shot, and loves to get involved. Guys got tons of energy and brings it every game. When he learns a little bit how to harness all this energy, his turnovers and positioning will very much improve. When DK is healthy, that'll be quite the tandem. Smith isn't here for no reason, and one rookie season isn't going to cancel out all the years he had in our system. NHL Defense is an acquired skill. This is still his first year.  

If we had Helm + DK, This series would've been over in 5 games. 

I have a question. If this was for example, Perry who hit Datsyuk like that, would the folk here at LGW still cry no suspension, that it was a clean hockey hit?

Just curious.

 

I understand where you're going with that, but does it really matter? The fact that it was a clean hit trumps the bias card on any play, any day. 

 

On another note, does that fact that the player got injured make or break a good hockey play? And if that is the case, then wouldn't you have to take hitting out of the game completely? So now when a player is going in for the hit, it's solely his responsibility to make sure the player he is hitting doesn't get hurt. If Abdelkader gets hurt in game 2 when Souray hit him from behind at the end of the game, does Souray get ejected and suspended (that hit was more a dangerous hit then the one on topic BTW)? The way I see it, the inconsistency with the suspensions and penalties is doing more harm for the game than good. 

 

Tootoo needs to be in the lineup tomorrow and get top minutes to just run mad. It wont happen, but he is the only guy that can hit Anaheim and not have to worry about a headshot.

 

Bottom line, Red Wings are *******, and it sucks even more when someone does land a big hit, its controversial. (Kronwall) This team needs a little less skilled Euro, and a little more North American man parts. 

While I agree to an extent. You can't really argue having a potential Norris candidate here wouldn't be great.

 

Yes, having Suter would be a great addition, but what Kenny and Co. are doing is, instead of replacing the best defenseman ever with one or 2 players...in a few years, our Norris Candidate will be our entire defense. And they will all be signed to under 3-4 million (minus Kronwall)

I just wonder what the excuses will be if he tanks next year too (if we sign him). I can see it now, "It's his first full season, the workouts, the preseason, training camp, playing original six teams..he's tired and needs to adjust" blah blah blah. Good players show up. Bottom line. 

 He's under 30 years old and is about a .65 ppg player in his 1st (partial) NHL season playing on a smaller ice surface, against bigger more physical guys and on a Wings team that unlike in the past CAN'T SCORE WORTH A DAMN!  If Brunner was on a team with better scoring top 6 guys, he'd be a point per game.  Side note, Martin St. Louis is 5'8, and Theo Fleury was 5'6.  Size is the worst argument in hockey for scorers.  Sure I'd love a power forward, but you can be small and successful.  Crosby is under 6'0, Z, Dats, Duchene and so on.  Those guys find ways to compete with the larger guys and given a couple seasons and lots of practice and a summer in an NHL weight room, Brunner will too.  Next year I say he gets 35 goals and 70 points.

 

 

I don't know about your comparisons. I understand you were making size comparisons, but you just compared Brunner to some of the best small guys to ever suit up. As for the .65 points per game...That's only applicable to the first half of this short season. The guy has been non existent for about a month or two. Once the league got in shape and up to speed, he's vanished. He doesn't even get many scoring chances. I mean, as for the Red Wings sake, they love small skilled forwards that can skate their hearts out on the perimeter, and take really hard shots from the boards..But that's not gonna cut it in this league. I'm also kind of tired of hearing "if he was on a line with a better scorer, or a team with better scoring" No, bad excuse. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Filpulla, those guys are the scorers, they shouldn't need a top 3 top 6 guy to make them produce more. It should be the other way around, they should be the ones making other guys produce. Aside from Datsyuk, If I was the coach, I wouldn't be please with any of these guys. A guy like Zetterberg, when his scoring falls off (which it does ever year, until the playoffs), he's got great defensive play to keep him on top of the ranks. As for Brunner, Franzen, if they arent scoring they are almost absolutely useless. We have guys like Cleary, Abdelkader, Bertuzzi, Sammuelsson to reap the benefits of our top guys hard work...A guy like Brunner should be replaced with someone that will alone create some space in the middle of the ice instead of rocketeering along the outside and getting benefited from his line mates harder work on the inside.  Thats just my opionion, I respect and understand that others wont see it this way. 

Seems the status quo in Detroit is that us fans really hate change. If our team is not winning (buying) championships, we are awful quick to throw in the towel during the franchises' refocus period. Think about the superstores vs small business. Think of the pre lockout era Wings in relation to Meijer/Walmart. These mega stores kill any chance of small business thriving in the surrounding areas. What the league has done is regulate the amount of spending in regards to team salary. This way, no matter where the team is located, they all have equal opportunity due to adequate business strategy, to succeed in the NHL. This League is not just 4 or 5 teams at the top winning every year anymore. Its an equal opportunities market. For the league's sake, they had to lower the top in order to raise the bottom. It helps to try to generate even income for all franchises, so that even in the small markets, the small fan followings that they do have can continue to stick around with hope that their team can win it all. After all, this is a business. Look at what happened to the city of Detroit. The big fish (auto industry) was the only source of economy because the little fish couldn't stand up against the big fish. When the big fish died out, or expanded/relocated to other major cities, the entire city of Detroit ended up in the s***ter. This is what would've happened if the league would've continued its pre lockout course of action. What Illitch and Co. used to do was buy their way to the top. Now, since that strategy has been almost eliminated, They seem to be restructuring the way they go about the present and the future. They are stocking up on young prospects and building almost entirely within. However, this comes at the cost of a few present years. The future is bright, the Red Wings will be at the top once again. It doesn't happen over night anymore and our fans just cannot seem to grasp this concept at all. The league is changing for the better, and whether or not us fans realize this, change is going to continue to occur. I think this downtime has really exposed our bandwagon fans. It seems as though the majority of "the best fans in the league" are not really hockey fans at all. When our team is not winning, we blame the league, the commissioner, the refs. Detroit fans only appreciate winning through absurd spending and monopolizing the sport whereas a true hockey fan enjoys, accepts, and appreciates the game of hockey no matter the circumstances. (See Toronto, or any Canadian club for example) No matter how awful the team is, their still selling out games due to love of the sport. Americans, Red Wings fans are greedy..

There are some bad GMs in this league, but I don't think any of them are dumb enough to touch Franzen's contract. And I think trading Z and Kronner is a little excessive with all the promising prospects that could help turn this team back into cup contenders around in 3 or 4 years. I would have loved to see them trade Flip, Q, and White and waive Cleary, get some picks maybe a prospect or two, and see what you really have in Tatar, Nyquist, and DeKeyser. Instead, now you get to watch Flip and White walk out the door for free this summer, and if you don't buy out Franzen and hopefully Samuelsson if he isn't injured, you'll probably end up having to waive Tatar or Nyquist (hopefully they'd waive the right guy this time, not like with Meech and Quincey 4 years ago). You can't keep letting talent walk away for free and still expect to be good, but sadly that's been the Red Wings M.O. since the 2009 cup loss.

 

In around 3 or 4 years our top stars will be between 35-38 years old. I just feel as though the time is now to make a move with these players. Its most definitely high risk high reward, but whats worse than watching these players age and decay while the league continues to stampede forward? What happens when their point production drops down to 3rd and 4th line average numbers in the next few years? Guys like Flip, Cleary, Emmerton, Sammy, Eaves, Miller, Quincey, White...THEY HAVE NO TRADE VALUE. NONE! Zetterberg and Kronwall in a package deal could land multiple draft picks, multiple young top forwards and defensmen.  Blow up the core, build a better one. 

 

How can you motivate players that have already won cups, gold medals, and Conn Smythe awards? I love these players as much as the next Wing fan, but their best years are all behind them. Z and Dats won't benefit from playing with any of the players we have in the minors or else they would have already been playing with them. And won't it suck watching Datsyuk leave without getting any sort of compensation? Good players benefit from playing with good players. And outside of our underachieving core, we have no impact players players. The core is losing a step every season and they are struggling now without any support. Imagine how they will look in 2-3 years if no help is brought in to take over the workload? Good players don't spend half their 20's in the minors over ripening, which leads me to believe that there isn't much high end talent coming through our pipe line in terms of offense. Sometimes you gotta trade away what you have, to get more of what you need and moving forward it seems like they need a lot more than what they have. 

in an amazing turn of events, wouldn't it be interesting if he went to KHL.

Should be keeping Nyquist, Tatar, Andersson in the lineup. 

 

Franzen, Datsyuk, Nyquist

Zetterberg, Fillpula, Brunner

Tatar, Helm, Eaves

Tootoo, Andersson, Miller 

Abdelkader

 

That should be our lines. Speed down the middle, and scoring on the wing. The only thing they lack is size and hard physical play on the top 2 lines. in 82 games your top 2 lines should be responsible for at least 120 goals. Bottom lines should be responsible for at least 40 goals and somewhere around an even plus minus. The defense, goalie, and heart of the forward lines should be responsible for wins. 

Datsyuk is the highest paid 4th line center this league has ever seen

Can we trade Babcock for Ovechkin?

Imagine if we all performed as well at our jobs, like Lidstrom has? Imagine if we all could be such a great role model, like Lidstrom is? A man doing what he loves, almost to perfection. How inspiring. Flipping burgers may get you quick cash, but you want to be truly successful? Start doing what you love, to your fullest potential and you'll get there. Maybe we'll see another player as dedicated as Lidstrom was to Detroit Red Wings, and to the great game of Hockey....But his name won't be Nicklas Lidstrom.

Correct the title, "Grand Rapids Griffins make offer to Damien Brunner."

You must play alot of NHL on xbox?  I understand where you are coming from, but bottom line is.. Lidstrom at 3 mil = insult Trading Datsyuk and/or Zetterberg = insult. As a respectable, classy organization, why would we treat our top 3 guys in such manner?  Datsyuk and Zetterberg need players to play around them, we need not to replace them. I'm all for shopping Franzen, Filpulla, and at the most extreme, maybe even Kronwall or Nyquist...But I don't understand how you can honestly think Lidstrom is going to sign for 3 mil max, and Datsyuk and Zetterberg could be shopped. I saw the moon last night, maybe this has something to do with you're thinking methods.